1959 Star Chief 4 dr

The starting point...

Keep us updated, looks to be fairly solid. Same model as mine.

Let us know on those ebay patches, I've been looking at those wondering if they're any good.

You're a brave man! Taking apart the dash scares me! Keep us updated with progress.

Thank God for GM's interchangability and the popularity of Chevrolets. The floor panels for 59 Chevys are exact duplicates of our cars, all six of them. There are also several reinforcement pieces available like the piece that is threaded for the seat tracks. Even the trunk panels are correct, but need some reworking. Ames sells all the passenger compartment pans. Hope this helps.......John

I havent bought the floor pans yet ($4.55 per gallon has a lot to do with that!! ), but I did take a wire cup on a grinder to the floor and it cleaned up real nice. I bought a welder about a month ago so I'm practicing before taking it to the car. Last week I sanded down both parts of the dash. I used the soda blaster, which works good, but takes a lot of soda and makes a big mess. I ended up using a 3M paint removing wheel that you put on a drill. It took the paint off like a champ. My only recommendation is that you dont use a really good drill, as you will have it running constantly for a long time. I used my old sears corded drill. I sprayed the dash with some primer and now I just need to sand it down. I was going to work on it this week, but something about a 110 degree day makes me loose my will.
I'll get the camera out soon and post some pics soon.

If I had to do my floor pans all over again I would have just bought a flat piece of 18 gauge and welded that in. The rotted parts in my floor were right over the support on the front floor boards. There is no need for beads (for strength) with that big support right there.

You can also find a metal shop to cut you a piece of sheet metal to size and roll the beads in. I bet they wouldn't charge much. That's what I did.

She's gettin naked







I started a new schedule so I should have a chance to get some work done on her. I started to sand it down so that I can get the bodywork done. My new position is half the commute that I had so the $300 bucks I will be saving on gas will get put into the car. . I'll add pics as I go.

Awesome! I can't wait to do the body work. I should have dont all the body work while I waited 6 months for my motor to be built

I actually did something other than walk by and look at it today. I got the welder out and put some metal together. This is my first time using the welder. I have no frickkin clue what the hell I'm doing. I've watched a couple of videos (I also watch the NFL, it dont mean I can kick a field goal!). Anyway, a few burnt thumbs later and I have the makings of a floor board (no more Fred Flintstone ). I'll have to go back and fix the mistakes later, but I am happy that I got to get out there and do something. It kinda helps that whole getting discouraged thing.

Looks ok to me! Floor boards suck to weld. There's no comfortable position to get in. I'm glad mine's done.

Is that the only one you have to patch?

Any more progress on the old girl?

Yeah, any progress?

No progress. We just moved in June. The car is in storage since I don't have a garage. I have a flat area that I am going to have concreted. So everything is on hold for a bit.